How many hours a night should I study for in VCE?

[Truck]

Specialist maths is one of the most competitive subjects in VCE.
To put it into perspective, here are a few rough figures: there are 40,000 people in the state doing maths in VCE. Out of them, only 4500 are good enough to do specialist maths, and out of them, only 400 score a 40+ raw score. So you would have to be in the top 1% of VCE maths students to score a 40.
Having said that, it is definitely achievable if you are a strong maths student. I don't want you to feel discouraged, but at the same time, I want you to be aware of what you're up against.

For me, I have done roughly 120 hours of specialist maths studying this year (which equates to about 45 minutes per day) and I have scored 100% on every SAC so far.

If you're already doing 3+ hours of studying each day by year 10 level, then you should do very well in VCE. Just remember to study the correct things. For example, if you are going through your textbook in chronological order and you come across a topic that you know really well, then skip it. There's no point wasting your time repeating something basic which you already know (eg. basic algebra). Study effectively and you'll be set for VCE.
Good luck

Are you sure about those statistics? I'm fairly sure that for most subjects with substantial cohorts (Spec. being one of them), 40 raw = top 8-9% of the cohort.

Well 400 out of 4500 is roughly the top 8-9% of the cohort.

Oh yeah sorry, I thought you meant top 1% of Specialist maths students, not top 1% of Maths students.

I think that's slightly erroneous though, a lot of people who do Specialist aren't the "cream of the crop" of maths students, i.e. students doing Spesh. at some lower-ranked schools might only be as good as Methods students at top schools... in the end, I think you're essentially right though in that being in the top 400/4500 students in the Specialist cohort is relatively hard, BUT the good news is that even if you get a 33 raw you'll get a 45 scaled, which most people would be very happy with - so an incredibly difficult score in a different subject = relatively easy to get in Spesh.

Also, just pointing out, 38 in Spesh scaled up to a 50 - that means like the top ~600 Spesh students are getting scaled 50's which imo is incredible, your odds of getting a 45+ score in Spesh are substantially greater than in any other subject.

[Jenny_2108]

For me, I have done roughly 120 hours of specialist maths studying this year (which equates to about 45 minutes per day) and I have scored 100% on every SAC so far.

Omg, 100% on every SAC. You smash Spesh!

[pi]

For me, I have done roughly 120 hours of specialist maths studying this year (which equates to about 45 minutes per day) and I have scored 100% on every SAC so far.

Omg, 100% on every SAC. You smash Spesh!

A bit awkward if he didn't given his username

[Jenny_2108]

LOL possibly he's truly"special at specialist".
I wonder how you could not lose any marks in Spesh SACs?

[Hutchoo]

@OP

study not by hours, but by goals

eg:
This week, finish off half of are of study 1
 - do every second revision question
 - do every second exercise
...
..
start practice exams by 7 weeks before exam

then take the appropriate time you need to study to fulfill your study goals.
works better when you have direction or something you need to accomplish

THIS!

LOL possibly he's truly"special at specialist".
I wonder how you could not lose any marks in Spesh SACs?

I guess he gets everything right

Nah, s@s (EVEN THOUGH HE ANNOYS ME SOMETIMES) is still a very dedicated student Started smashing spesh very early and for that, I respect him

[Truck]

LOL possibly he's truly"special at specialist".
I wonder how you could not lose any marks in Spesh SACs?

You go to a crappy school with very easy SACs .

But in all seriousness, S@S works hard and he deserves those scores!

[Jenny_2108]

Yep, I agree. He works so hard. I wish I could be hard-working as a part of him

[paulsterio]

LOL possibly he's truly"special at specialist".
I wonder how you could not lose any marks in Spesh SACs?

Well last year I lost 4 marks in total for the whole year in Spesh, and I go to one of the strongest maths cohorts in the state. In reality though, if you go to a mid-tier school their SACs would be substantially easier, purely because they don't want everyone failing.

The thing with Spesh is you have to look at it in terms of the scaling. Getting 38 will give you 50 scaled, whilst getting 50 raw will only give you 55 scaled, this means that essentially for a gain of 12 study scores, your net aggregate gain is only 5 marks or so. This shows that as long as you get 40+ in spesh, you won't be really losing anything against those who get 50. It is much better to be worrying about English than spesh.

[Jenny_2108]

Is the Spesh scaling different every year?

[pi]

Is the Spesh scaling different every year?

Yes, but it should be around the same as last year (probably a little lower if anything).

[Russ]

Is the Spesh scaling different every year?

They recently did some stuff and made it scale substantially more (ughwhy) but in future the scaling should remain relatively constant. The big jump was last year iirc

[Jenny_2108]

Did last year scale a lot compared other years?I think it depends on how hard the exams are as well

[pi]

Did last year scale a lot compared other years?I think it depends on how hard the exams are as well

It nearly doubled last year, VCAA changed it on purpose though.

[WhoTookMyUsername]

Did last year scale a lot compared other years?I think it depends on how hard the exams are as well

does not have anything to do with how hard the exams are.

You still get X in the exam, if it's a tough exam, and tons of people are below X, then you've done really well (hence no need for scaling dependent on exam)

[Tonychet2]

as many others have said its more about knowing the content well (better than the rest of the state) and how many hours this translate into really depends on the individual...